This invention relates to a vertical blind assembly and more particularly to a vertical blind assembly which may have the width of the mounting assembly or track housing, which is the control part of the vertical blind assembly, easily shortened as desired without major restructuring or complete disassembly.
It is well known that a covering for a window is desired. A particularly attractive and useful covering for a window is the vertical blind assembly. The vertical blind assembly generally includes a series of vertical slats or vanes (vane and slat being interchangeable terms) suspended from carriers, and has a control mechanism for rotating the individual slat carrier in unison and for moving the individual slat carrier in groups (generally one or two groups) from one side to another of the rack or housing in which they are mounted. There are many systems available for performing the functions of a vertical blind assembly. This is clearly indicated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,980 to James G. LeHouillier incorporated herein by reference.
There exist many control mechanisms for use with a vertical blind assembly. Three of the currently-known, principal types of the vertical blind assemblies are the American system, the Pantagraph System, and the accordian system. These systems cannot be easily adjusted in width or otherwise modified.
Variations on these assemblies include a blind system with two pinion gears and one traverse gear combined with a turning gear to provide for opening and closing of the blind, and the rotating of the individual slats (or carriers) of the blinds 180.degree.. Another system has a spacer or pulling bar combined with a number of carriers.
All of the vertical blind assembly systems have in common a framework (the track) with an idle mechanism at one end, and a control mechanism at the other end of the framework. The idle end provides for a pulley system to open and close the blinds in cooperation with the control end. The framework also supports the slats between the idle end and the control end.
The control end is a gear end having gears for turning the blind slats through their procedures and for moving groups of blind slats together, to provide for a clear view through the window; or apart, to cover the window and provide a window covering. With the gearing system for the control end, the problems of shortening the vertical blind assembly are exacerbated.
If the slats of the vertical blind assembly are spaced apart to cover the window and are rotated to be substantially parallel to the window, the view through the window is blocked. If the slats of the vertical blind assembly are rotated to be substantially perpendicular to the window, a person is permitted to view through the window.
As the slats are rotated between the perpendicular and the parallel, the view through the window is adjusted as is the light flow. As the slats approach a position parallel to the window, the blocking of the view through the window increases, and the light flow through the blind assembly window decreases. As the slats approach a position perpendicular to the window, the blocking of the view through the window decreases and the light flow through the blind assembly increases.
If the slats of the vertical blind assembly are moved together and do not cover the window, rotation of the slats has no effect on the light transmission. Thus, rotation is unimportant to light transmission if the vertical blind assembly is open--that is, does not cover the window.
While the structures of the vertical blind assembly system are rather strong and indestructible, one quality lacking in the vertical blind assemblies is that there is no good way to make the track of a vertical blind assembly adjustable in terms of width to fit a certain width of window. In other words, a vertical blind assembly setup is bought in certain track widths.
Should a person desire to decrease the purchased vertical blind assembly width, major remanufacturing must be accomplished--if the decreased width can be achieved efficiently at all. This clearly takes the tailoring of vertical blind assembly out of the realm of the average do-it-yourself home owner or handyman, and restricts the use of vertical blind assemblies to the professional installer or remodeler.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a vertical blind assembly suitable for tailoring by the home handyman so that the width of the blind can be adjusted as required. If this can be accomplished, the efficient and aesthetically attractive vertical blind assembly can be used in a more common fashion.
Typical methods of decreasing the width of the current vertical blind assemblies require complete disassembly of the blind. With the disassembly, much effort and great skill are required. If the skill needed to decrease the width of the vertical blind assembly can be brought within the skill of the average homeowner, the vertical blind assembly becomes more suitable for the homeowner to use. It is desirable, therefore, to reduce or eliminate the requirement for complete disassembly in order to decrease the width of the blind assembly.
Another problem associated with the track shortening aspect is the removal of the carrier which supports each slat of the vertical blind assembly. The carrier of the prior art is a unitary item place, which is removed from the track only with great difficulty, and requires complete disassembly of the entire vertical blind assembly. Yet the track shortening requires removal of some of the carriers.
A further problem with the carriers is found in the fact that the carriers, which carry the blind slats, vary in size corressponding to the size of the slats. It is presently necessary to carry many sizes of slat carriers to achieve the required results. If these carriers for the blinds can be modified, so that the carriers can have a simpler storage, a great advantage is achieved over the necessity of storing numerous differing batches of carriers. If it can be developed so that the idle and pulley assembly is adjusted for quick and easy cut resizing of the track to a lesser length may be accomplished without disassembling the track or removing a pull assembly situated therewithin.
It is also desirable to eliminate the need to store right and left embodiments for the carriers to make it simpler to store the assemblies, providing a great advantage in storage and other simplified supply problems in the manufacture thereof. If the carriers can be removed without disassembling the entire track, and without untying the pull cord knot, and further without removing the cord assembly within the frame work or track; great advantages are achieved in the quicker reduction of the width. Accordingly, these variations and modifications are highly desired.